November 2007 — News

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The Great Debate: Effectiveness of Technology in Education

by Patricia Deubel, Ph.D.

  1. Would the application of new media assess students' prior knowledge and either provide the instructor with relevant information about students' knowledge and skill level or provide help to students in acquiring the necessary prerequisite knowledge and skills if their prior knowledge is weak?
  2. Would the use of new media enhance students' organization of information given that organization determines retrieval and flexible use?
  3. Would the use of new media actively engage students in purposeful practice that promotes deeper learning so that students focus on underlying principles, theories, models, and processes, and not the superficial features of problems?
  4. Would the application of new media provide frequent, timely, and constructive feedback, given that learning requires accurate information on one's misconceptions, misunderstandings, and weaknesses?
  5. Would the application of new media help learners develop the proficiency they need to acquire the skills of selective monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting their learning strategies?  Some call these metacognitive skills.
  6. Would the use of new media adjust to students' individual differences given that students are increasingly diverse in their educational backgrounds and preferred methods of learning?

The Debate Goes On
Finally, in our neverending great debate, Postman (1995) reminds us that being against technology makes no more sense than to being against food. We need both. "But to observe that it is dangerous to eat too much food, or to eat food with no nutritional value, is not to be 'antifood.' It is to suggest what may be the best uses of food.... It's about how technology creates new worlds, for good or ill" (pp. 191-192). We'll continue to fuel the debate with proof of effectiveness from analysis of single research studies. And when we become disappointed by their mixed results, we'll continue to conduct meta-analyses in hope that by grouping studies we can prove a point. Who knows--the next one might be on effectiveness of the new Web 2.0 technologies. Even if there is no clear winner of a debate, at least we've given educators fuel to reflect on the good or ill of their implementation of technology or lack thereof. We know that using technology in any form will not necessarily improve education, but its informed implementation moves us closer to eliminating the "one-size-fits all" approach to teaching and learning.

References

Deubel, P. (2001, Summer). The effectiveness of mathematics software for Ohio proficiency test preparation [Online]. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 33(5). Available: http://www.iste.org/

Kuhn, R. (2000, July). How does technology transform thinking? [Show 111 transcript]. Closer to the Truth. Available: http://www.closertotruth.com/